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<br />Robert McGuire. Governor's Office <br />Mr. McGuire introduced himself as the representative of the Governor's Policy Office and said <br />that he would be attending future Task Force meetings. <br /> <br />Guest SDeaker-Shaun McGrath. Western Governor's Association (wGA) <br />Mr. McGrath introduced himself as the Program Manager for WGA's Water Program. He said <br />they are trying to do what Colorado has done for drought at a national level. Mr. McGrath said <br />they want to think about drought in a prepared way and except that drought will happen in the <br />future, and they need a way to respond. He also mentioned it was frustrating to try and get help <br />from the Federal government to respond to drought emergencies and to acquire drought detecting <br />tools. Mr. McGrath stated that we need a coherent national policy on drought that will enable us <br />to act immediately, as for wild fires, like FEMA acts for other national emergencies. He said <br />that through the National Drought Preparedness Act of 2003, the National Drought Council <br />would serve the same functions as FEMA, and will encourage drought preparedness at all levels: <br />Federal, State, Tribal, Regional, local, and watersheds. Mr. McGrath introduced the National <br />Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), which is a nation-wide system that is being <br />developed to better monitor and predict drought and would allow water users and government <br />program managers to become more proactive in mitigating droughts. The WGA needs Congress <br />to fund NIDIS--a very important tool to detect drought. Please refer to Mr. McGrath's NIDIS <br />presentation for their website and more information on the Colorado Water Conservation Board's <br />website at http://cwcb@state.co.us/owclDrought_PlanninglPresentationslPres _ 040121.htm <br /> <br />Mike GillesDie. Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) <br />Mr. Gillespie stated that our snowpack is good in the southwestern part of the state. He said our <br />snowpack statewide is 95% of average and 122% of last year for this date. He said the trend this <br />year is slightly below average statewide but better than last year. Mr. Gillespie said it is a <br />concern that the S. Platte is the lowest in the state. He said the month of November was good <br />and got us up to average, and the snow around Christmas brought us up to above average. <br />However, now we are below average again with a one-and-a-half inch below deficit, and January <br />appears to still be dry. <br /> <br />Mr. Gillespie reported that our reservoir storage is better than last year at this time and overall <br />much better, but still definitely below average. The Colorado Basin has improved. <br /> <br />Mr. Gillespie said the SWSI 's downfall is a short memory as it sometimes indicates <br />contradictory information. <br /> <br />Mr. Gillespie reported the streamflows are the lowest in the upper South Platte. Overall, he <br />stated, streamflows are average to below average. The Arkansas has been below average all <br />season; the Colorado was good but has dropped; the North Platte was average but is now drier; <br />the Rio Grand is closer to the average; the San Juan is the highest in the state while the South <br />Platte is poor-but a little better than 2003, and the Yampa is back to average. <br /> <br />Dawn Tavlor Owens. DNR Executive Director's Office <br />Ms. Owens announced that Greg Walcher, DNR's Executive Director, resigned shortly after the <br />first of the year and was replaced by Russell George, who previously was the director of the <br />Colorado Division of Wildlife. She also announced that Kent Holsinger had moved into the <br />private sector and that Frank McNulty has replaced him. <br />